Cricket: Fleming unfazed by rivalry for the reins

There was hint of the old fox about Stephen Fleming yesterday as he eyed his return to the New Zealand captaincy.

The new father rejoined the national side after taking paternity leave to be at the birth of daughter Tayla Grace, and immediately pronounced himself better for the break and keen to prove he is far from a spent force.

Stand-in skipper Daniel Vettori has proved a more-than-capable replacement over the past five games, prompting some admittedly tenuous debate about whether it is time to move away from Fleming's eight-year captaincy reign.

It has been a fractured season for Fleming, who was sidelined initially with hand injuries and then because of facial surgery, before taking more time off to be with partner Kelly last week for what he described as a humbling and rewarding occasion.

But he also acknowledged that it was healthy for him to be aware of Vettori's obvious capabilities as captain, and useful for the side to have such talented leadership options available as they looked towards next year's World Cup.

"It's important to be pricked in the sense that a challenger like Dan will bring the best out of me," Fleming said yesterday. "But I think we both captain the side in a similar way, simply because we've played so much of our cricket together.

"I don't feel threatened, but I know that Dan's development as a leader will be very important for New Zealand cricket's future."

New Zealand head into today's fourth one-dayer with a vastly rearranged side from that initially picked, following injuries to Kyle Mills and Jacob Oram, the dropping of Tuesday's match-winner, Nathan Astle, and the recall of Fleming.

The bowling attack has been shored up by the addition of James Franklin but the overall squad looks an unconvincing combination, featuring several fringe players, an out-of-form batsman in Hamish Marshall, and a wayward bowler in Chris Cairns.

Far from being fazed by the reshaped squad, Fleming continued on the theme of development yesterday, saying the games at Wellington today and Napier on Sunday would be an excellent opportunity to challenge both individuals within the squad and his own on-field tactics.

Asked if that meant taking the chance to bat first and set a total for the opposition, rather than New Zealand's strong preference for bowling first, Fleming replied in the affirmative.

"We are looking at the development of the side," he said. "That's been one of the key themes since I've been away and now there's an opportunity to tweak our tactics on the field, as a lot of people have been advocating.

"We'll seriously look at it [batting first]. We don't want to compromise our chances of winning, but we've got in our minds that this is a chance to continue the development of the team, and individuals within it."

Fleming also gave an insight into how his extra leadership experience could benefit New Zealand, saying he had been watching the bowling of Cairns and was confident he could help his team-mate rediscover his form.

Cairns picked up his 200th wicket in the previous one-dayer at Christchurch, but continued to prove one of New Zealand's most expensive front-line bowlers and has conceded far too many boundaries in his last five outings.

Fleming said: "He probably hasn't bowled as well as he would have liked but I don't think he's far away from a three-for-30-type effort. I'm not alarmed ... I look forward to discussing that with him."

New Zealand last night omitted Chris Martin from their 13-strong squad, creating a likely toss-up between James Franklin and Jeetan Patel for the role of supersub.


The lineups

New Zealand v Sri Lanka

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Daniel Vettori (vice-captain), Shane Bond, Chris Cairns, Peter Fulton, Jamie How, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin, Jeetan Patel, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent.

Sri Lanka: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Chaminda Vaas (vice-captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Avishka Gunawardene, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Jehan Mubarak, Russel Arnold, Ruchira Perera, Dilhara Fernando.